Walker case goes to jury

Final statements have been submitted, instructions have been given to the jury and the future of Calvin Walker is up to the 12 persons now deliberating the federal case against Calvin Walker of Walker's Electric Company. U.S. Attorney Bob Rawls for the Eastern District of Texas asserts Walker defrauded taxpayers by falsifying invoices and requests for payment submitted to the Beaumont Independent School District for payment, and additional counts are pending for wire and mail fraud.

Defense attorney Dick DeGuerin told the court that prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof needed to sway jurors beyond a reasonable doubt as to whether his client charged BISD “far beyond” reasonable value. According to him, the altered documents in the records of BISD were not material to the district paying Walker for the work he performed at several campuses outlined over the multiple days of trial testimony.

Prosecutor Bob Rawls contended that Walker didn’t go through the trouble of altering documents for no reason. Rawls asserted Walker knowingly forged the document to defraud BISD as Walker had a prior history of doing such as the altered documents submitted on a false insurance claim Walker served probation for.

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